“Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.”. Acts 17:1-3. “Now while Paul waited for… Read More »The Death Knot
There is an important word in English, ‘conscience’. All other languages have an equivalent concept. If you look in a general dictionary, the definitions of the word ‘conscience’ in English and other languages are basically the same in their secular concepts. But a person who reads the Bible and is familiar with the Word of God will realize that there is a difference between the concept of “conscience” in secular vocabularies and the concept in… Read More »The Conscience
If you are holding something to yourself, not necessarily something that’s bad, but could be something that feels good, an honor, a treasure, a right, not only legitimate but even a blessed right, will you willingly lay it down and give it up if the Lord asks you to do just that? You will if, and only if, you see how the Lord emptied Himself, took a lowly form, took such humility, was obedient onto… Read More »Humility in the ruins of sin
Reading of an article by a young writer, “Anything But Christian: Why Millennials Leave the Church” left me in pain. One can easily call such Millennials faithless and impious. But I’m actually very touched by the article. As the writer cries out, “we want Jesus!” (not the church amenities and niceties). But today’s churches offer very little real “Jesus”. Youth is the best window to seek and find truth. Even a young person’s anger is… Read More »The Window of Youth
Leviticus chapter 7: After the division of the sacrifice between the altar and the priest, the trespass offering is shared by all priests even though it belongs to the priest who conducts the sacrifice. What a marvelous picture in Leviticus. Today we live according to the Spirit of grace, not under the law. All saints are priests and can act on behalf of a sinner to make a trespass offering. Though we have nothing to… Read More »There is a time to fast, and there is a time to feast
It’s the end of the year again. If the world even knows to be thankful, Christians certainly should be more thankful. He who is able to give thanks in good things is wise; he who is able to give thanks also in his difficult encounters has great wisdom. But for those who know the Lord, love Him, and see in Him the great end (perfection, fulfillment), gratitude in all things is more than a good… Read More »The Great Ending
Many times I have seen a forwarded message of “the shortest commencement speech of Peking University”. The speech was held in the highest esteem by many Chinese, but I read it with the opposite feeling. I know many may be offended by my thoughts. But I wrote down what I really felt in my heart anyway. For some reason, these thoughts came out in English, probably because I felt in my gut that it was… Read More »Idolatrous Atheism
Thanks to a brother’s sharing of the earlier history and experiences of the local assembly, I had a glimpse of the “first love” (Rev 2:4) that the assembly had in the beginning about 20 years ago. Tragically, the assembly gradually left the first love. A great treasure has been lost — a treasure in the Lord’s eyes, and a treasure to those who love the Lord. The assembly came under attack by the enemy through flesh.… Read More »The Holy Spirit will not work with our hypocrisy and self-righteousness
One of the most paradoxical and troubling experiences I have had in my Christian life is the existence of spiritual pride. The enemy’s scheme Pride as a human behavior is common, and is a very basic aspect of sinful human nature. But spiritual pride is much harder to understand and even harder to deal with. It’s easy to categorically say that any spiritual revelation that leads to pride is not true spiritual revelation. The real-life… Read More »The Spiritual Pride
How do the people in New Testament time read the book of Proverbs in the Old Testament? Some see Proverbs as just a collection of practical wisdom and therefore a lower kind of spiritual revelation than other books. Still, some see it as being on par with all other books in the Bible, but only because they see all books in the Bible as just moral teachings and practical wisdom, missing the spiritual revelation of… Read More »Proverbs